Sunday
Morning Bible Study
August
16, 2009
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
This week in our upcoming Servant School:
Greg Bird –
“Calvary Chapel Distinctives”
What’s so different about Calvary Chapel?
Examining the core things that make us unique. This class is a “must”
for all leaders within our church.
Dave Ritner – “World Religions – Sharing
Jesus”
Understanding other religions can help us to introduce people to Jesus more
effectively. Using Thom S. Rainer’s book, “The Unexpected Journey”, the class
will look at Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Mormonism, Catholicism, and
Atheism. The focus is on helping us to reach others for Jesus.
We are on the
Thursday evening before Jesus is crucified, at the event known as “the Last
Supper”.
Jesus has told
His disciples some pretty distressing things:
One of them will betray Him, He is “going away”, and Peter will deny
Him.
Jesus has been encouraging His disciples to believe in Him.
14:4-6 The Way
:4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
:4 you know – eido – to see; to perceive with the
eyes; to know; a knowledge based on a clear and purely mental perception as
opposed to knowledge grounded on personal experience.
:4 where I go
Jesus just told them where He was going.
He was going to His Father’s house to prepare a place for them.
He’s already told them that He is going to heaven.
:5 Thomas said
to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the
way?”
:5 we do not know
where You are going
In the last chapter, Jesus told them He was going away.
We saw that earlier that evening,
Jesus had said,
(Jn 13:33 NKJV) … ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’…
Peter had responded to Jesus:
(Jn 13:36 NKJV) Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus
answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow
Me afterward.”
Thomas is saying the same thing, “If we don’t know where you are going, how
are we going to know the way to where you are going???”
:5 Thomas –
This is the
fellow we often hear described as “Doubting Thomas”.
He earned that title from his response to the news that Jesus had rose from
the dead. When the other disciples
claimed to see Jesus after His burial, Thomas responded:
(Jn 20:25 NKJV) …“Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put
my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will
not believe.”
One commentator (EBC) writes about Thomas,
“Thomas was utterly honest, pessimistic, and uninhibited. He did not
suppress his feelings but voiced his despair.”
Lesson
Ask Questions
Many people in the world have come up with the idea that Christianity is for
people who don’t have a brain. They have
somehow come to the conclusion that they have lots of questions for which
Christians don’t have any answers.
Perhaps that’s because some of us need to be doing a little more homework.
Illustration
New Survey Raises
Concerns
There
was a study released last month (Sept. 2010) by the Pew Research Center’s Forum
on Religion & Public Life. They
asked all kinds of people questions about general religious knowledge.
Atheists, agnostics, Jews, and Mormons scored the highest
on the test, averaging 20 correct answers out of 32 questions.
Evangelical
Christians averaged 16 correct answers.
According to a study released last month (Sept. 2010) by the Pew
Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life, atheists, agnostics,
Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of general
religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline
Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and
leading figures of major world religions.
Of the 32 religious knowledge questions, the average number of correct
answers was 16. Atheists and agnostics averaged 20.9 correct answers, Jews
averaged 20.5 correct answers and Mormons averaged 20.3 correct answers.
Catholics answered an average of 14.7 questions correctly and Protestants, as a
whole, gave an average of 16 correct answers. Of the 12 questions dealing with
Christianity, Mormons answered an average of 7.9 correctly and evangelical
Christians answered an average of 7.3 correctly.
The survey also dealt with perceptions relating to the separation of
church and state, and found some confusion over the line between teaching and
preaching in public schools. Among the questions most often answered
incorrectly is whether public school teachers are permitted to read from the
Bible as an example of literature. Two-thirds of those surveyed (67%) said
"no" to this question, even though the Supreme Court has stated that
the Bible may be taught for its "literary and historic" qualities, as
long as it is part of a secular curriculum. The single question that respondents
most frequently got right is whether U.S. Supreme Court rulings allow teachers
to lead public school classes in prayer. Nine-in-ten (89%) correctly said this
is not allowed.
The results of the U.S.
Religious Knowledge Survey were based on interviews with 3,412 randomly sampled
adults from May 19 through June 6, 2010.
Thomas was a
fellow that asked questions. You don’t
get answers if you don’t ask questions.
Do you remember
being in math class and when the teacher was done with his lecture, and asked
if there were any questions, and you were too embarrassed to raise your
hand? And then that one kid would raise his hand and ask
the question that you wanted to ask, but were afraid to?
Weren’t you at least a little grateful for that kid who
asked the questions?
Lee Strobel was
one of those kinds of people, a skeptic.
Play
“Strobel ”; 1:16-2:07
Lee
Strobel’s skepticism led him to take his legal and journalistic backgrounds and
examine the claims of Christianity.
Strobel’s honest skepticism led him to becoming a believer because he
found that there were answers to his tough questions.
As a
result of his faith, Strobel has written quite a few books that give
answers to the honest questions. (The Case for Christ, The Case for a Creator, The
Case for Faith, The Case for the Real Jesus)
Was Thomas
always a “doubter”?
Thomas may have had questions, but he wasn’t stupid.
He doubted the resurrection until he got the proof.
(Jn 20:26–28 NKJV) —26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside,
and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst,
and said, “Peace to you!” 27
Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands;
and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but
believing.” 28 And
Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
When Thomas got His answers, He no longer doubted. He believed.
That’s the difference between an honest skeptic and a
dishonest skeptic.
The honest skeptic will change his position when he sees
the evidence.
The dishonest skeptic will continue to doubt and ask
questions, even when faced with overwhelming evidence.
Don’t be afraid
to ask questions.
You will find that there ARE answers.
God says,
(Je 33:3
NKJV) ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show
you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’
Jesus said,
(Mt 7:7–8 NKJV) —7 “Ask, and it will be
given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8
For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks
it will be opened.
:5 know – eido – to see; to perceive with the
eyes; to know; a knowledge based on a clear and purely mental perception as
opposed to knowledge grounded on personal experience.
:6 Jesus said
to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through Me.
Remember that the disciples are upset and confused. They’re not sure what is up ahead.
This is part of Jesus’ answer to their frustration.
:6 I am – ego eimi – the Greek form of God’s name, Yahweh
We’ve seen throughout the Gospel of John that Jesus has made a claim to
being God. He has identified Himself as
being the “I AM”, which is a form of God’s name, Yahweh.
Lesson
He is the best answer
Seven times through the Gospel of John Jesus gives definition of what it
means for Him to be the “I AM”. This is
the sixth time. If you pay attention,
you find that Jesus is answering our toughest questions. Look at the first five times:
How do I satisfy
this hunger inside me?
(Jn 6:48 NKJV) I am the bread of
life.
How do I get
out of this darkness I’m in?
(Jn 8:12 NKJV) Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who
follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
How do I get
into God’s kingdom?
(Jn 10:9 NKJV) I am the door. If
anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
Who will take care
of me?
(Jn 10:11 NKJV) “I am the good
shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
What will
happen after I die?
(Jn 11:25 NKJV) Jesus said to her, “I
am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die,
he shall live.
Now Jesus is answering the question, “How do I get to heaven?”
Remember that Jesus is answering the worries of the disciples.
His answer is not a formula, His
answer is personal.
His answer is … Himself.
Our answer is knowing Him. Knowing
the one who doesn’t just know the way, but who IS the way.
The answer is having a relationship with the one who IS the answer.
:6 the way
– hodos – a way; a travelled way,
road; journey
The word usually
carries the idea of a road or a path that’s travelled on:
(Mt 20:17 NKJV) Now Jesus, going up to
Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them …
The early church
took this term and made it their own. Paul
told Felix:
(Ac 24:14 NKJV) But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect,
so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in
the Law and in the Prophets.
Such as in Damascus:
(Ac 9:1–2 NKJV) —1 Then Saul,
still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to
the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so
that if he found any who were of the
Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
And in Ephesus:
(Ac
19:9 NKJV) —9 But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil
of the Way before the
multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in
the school of Tyrannus.
When Jesus said,
(Jn 14:4 NKJV) And where I go you
know, and the way you know.”
The way is Him. He is the
way. They know Jesus. They know the way. He is the way to heaven. If you want to go to heaven, you need to know
the way, you need to know Jesus.
Lesson
The Path
Jesus doesn’t just tell you which road to take to heaven, He is the road to
heaven.
Say you are
from Tennessee and are taking your family to Disneyland.
You get lost. You have no
maps. You have no GPS. But as long as there is a wise woman in the
car, you will stop and ask for directions.
That
reminds me of the cartoon I found
of Mrs. Moses asking for directions. Now
we know why it took the Israelites so long to get to the Promised Land…
So
… the first person you stop tells
you to take a right turn, head three blocks, then turn left, look for the donut
shop, hang a right, go two miles, then make another left.
I’d probably be lost the moment I got back in the car.
The
second person you stop tells you, “Hey, I’m going to Disneyland too! How about if I take you there!”
Jesus doesn’t tell us the way, He IS the way.
Knowing Him
puts you on the right path because He is the path. He’s the only path. It’s a narrow path. The right path is only one person wide.
There’s not a
multi-lane highway going to heaven.
It’s a single lane
road and He is that road.
Jesus said,
(Mt 7:13–14 NKJV) —13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and
broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and
there are few who find it.
Lesson
The Journey
A “way” or a “path” is what takes you to your destination.
He didn’t say He was the magic button that instantly transported you to
your destination.
Knowing Jesus
is not about a one-time decision, pressing a button and that’s it, you are
“beamed up”.
It’s about
walking a road with Jesus for the rest of your life.
Do you remember
the “Lord of the Rings” movies?
The story was
all about Mr. Frodo getting that “precious” ring destroyed.
It took three movies (and LONG movies at that) for Frodo and Sam to
finally throw the ring into the fires of Mount Doom at Mordor.
The story was all about the journey.
Your life is
that journey. And there’s a sense in
which Jesus can’t live your life for you.
But He can carry you.
So many times we get discouraged because we haven’t made our goals
yet. I get discouraged because things at
work have taken a detour. My family
might not be what I had hoped it would be.
Perhaps I have an issue in my life that I haven’t gotten a hold of yet. It’s good to keep your eyes on a goal, but
Jesus is also at work in you while you’re on the journey. He’s concerned about how you get to your
goal. He’s concerned about what’s
happening in your life right now. Don’t
neglect what’s happening now because you’re discouraged about what’s up ahead.
Life is as much about the journey as it is the destination, heaven.
The journey is all about Jesus. He
is the way. Life is all about getting to
know Jesus and letting Him help me and take me to the destination.
:6 the truth
– aletheia (“not” + “hidden”) – what
is true in any matter under consideration
Now Thomas asked, “how can we know the way?”
The problem is this, “Is what Jesus telling me true or false?”
Illustration:
I can grow up
learning all about Santa Claus, becoming an expert on things Christmas-sy
I can learn the names
of the twelve reindeer.
I can learn the different
names for Santa Claus.
I can come up with theories
about how he covers the whole world in a single night.
I can come up with
theories about how he gets down those chimneys.
Though I have knowledge, my knowledge is not the truth.
It’s all a myth (at least 99%) of Santa Claus (yes Virginia, there was a
saint named Nikolas).
If I grow up living my life based on Santa Claus, there is going to be a
day when I’m going to become extremely disappointed when I find out that there
is no Santa Claus.
Jesus isn’t just some nice fantasy story. He’s the truth ...
Truth is
important to God.
1. It’s a requirement for coming to God
(Ps 15:1–2 NKJV) —1 LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in
Your holy hill? 2 He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks
the truth in his
heart;
You aren’t going to get into heaven if you are living a
lie.
And even on earth, you aren’t going to get very far with
God until you start being truthful and honest with Him.
2. Truth is the key to maturity
In our society, we’ve learned to live with all kinds of lies:
Illustration:
Top 10 Lies
10.
We’ll stay only five minutes.
9.
This will be a short meeting.
8.
I’ll respect you in the morning.
7.
The check is in the mail.
6.
I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you.
5.
This hurts me more than it hurts you.
4.
Your money will be cheerfully refunded.
3. We
service what we sell.
2.
Your table will be ready in just a minute.
1.
I’ll start exercising tomorrow.
If you want to
grow and mature, you have to learn to accept the truth.
(Eph 4:15 NKJV) but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the
head—Christ—
Lesson
Live in truth
God wants us to function in the realm of truth.
We need to be careful about some of the lies we tell ourselves like:
“I can’t help
the way I am, I grew up in a dysfunctional family”.
Yet the truth is that there are people who have grown up
in families more dysfunctional than yours, and they’ve learned to change.
The problem isn’t my family. The problem is me.
The truth sets
us free:
(Jn 8:32
NKJV) And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
(Jn 8:36 NKJV) Therefore if the Son makes
you free, you shall be free indeed.
When you come to know Jesus, you enter into a world where truth is truth,
and lies are lies.
If you intend to grow and mature in the Lord, you’ll find that the closer
you get to Jesus, the closer you’ll get to living a life of truth, because
Jesus is truth.
If you are a selfish person, you
need to recognize it.
If you need help, you learn to ask
for it.
:6 the life
– zoe – life; of the absolute fullness
of life, life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous
It speaks of a
full life here on earth. Jesus said,
(Jn 10:10 NKJV) The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to
destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Some people are looking for that extra thing that will add “zing” to their
life. They jump out of airplanes, climb mountains, and seek to break records to
find fulfillment.
Full life, fulfillment is found in Jesus.
It also speaks
of eternal life. John wrote:
(1 Jn 5:11–13 NKJV) —11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal
life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of
God does not have life. 13
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of
God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to
believe in the name of the Son of God.
If you want eternal life, there is only one place to find it, in Jesus.
If you have come to Jesus, making Him your Savior, and you’ve asked Him
into your heart, then you have the Son.
And if you have the Son, you have the life.
:6 No one comes
… except through Me
Lesson
One Way
Some people call us Christians narrow minded because we say that Jesus is
the only way to heaven.
The truth is that Jesus is the one that made that claim, not us.
With all the
world’s religions and their leaders, the best they can claim is to know the way
to ultimate happiness, or to heaven.
They will tell you what you must do or must not do to achieve heaven, or
nirvana.
Jesus doesn’t just tell us what to do to get there, He’s the way itself.
How can Jesus
be the only way?
He is the only
one who took care of our problem.
The problem is our sin.
Isaiah wrote,
(Is 59:1–2
NLT) —1 Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too
deaf to hear you call. 2
It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he
has turned away and will not listen anymore.
Jesus
came to pay for our sins, to die in our place.
(Heb 10:14 NLT) For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who
are being made holy.
Illustration
Think about the
Chilean miners.
How many ways out did they have?
Yes, there was more than one hole being drilled to rescue
them, but only one hole that made it all the way down to the miners.
Do you think the miners were upset that there was only one
way out?
I’m not sure they were bothered about being narrow minded
in only having one way of escape.
In order to be saved, each miner had to make a choice
whether they would take that one way out.
By the way, I
mentioned last week about the t-shirts that the miners wore when they were
rescued. The shirts were provided by
Campus Crusade for Christ Chile.
The front of the t-shirts read , 'Gracias Senor' – 'Thank
you Lord.'"
The back of the shirts had a quote from Psalm 95:4: 'In His hand are the
depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him.'
Apparently, more than one of the miners found that Jesus was the way, the
truth, and the life.